The large number of Chinese nationals working and living in Nigeria has come under criticism more than a few times with many arguing that they are taking away jobs from Nigerians. From the menial labourer jobs, factory and construction site workers to the more specialized jobs – foreigners, especially the Chinese, have been accused of taking away jobs from Nigerians.

This argument however has two sides: While some argue that the jobs are specialized and Nigerians do not possess the required skills to carry them out, others argue that it is the porous Nigerian immigration system that allows such a large number of Chinese nationals migrate into the country without proper documentation. For those that belong to the latter school of thought, they further argue that a good number of Chinese nationals living in Nigeria are turnouts of their prison system who come to Nigeria with their criminal tendencies.

In a recent development, a nationwide directive by the Controller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service, Mrs. Rose Uzoma has led to the arrest of 45 Chinese nationals, comprising 34 male and 11 female. They were arrested and detained by the Kano state command of the Nigerian Immigration Service for what it described as “economic scavenging” in the popular Kantin Kwari textile market in Kano.

Controller, Kano State command, Dr. Brasca Ifeadi who revealed this while briefing newsmen in his office yesterday said the mass arrest of the Chinese is not specifically targeted at expatiates of the Asian giants alone, but all foreigners into such activities that could be termed as menial.

He said that even though the directive was a general one, it is however basically to weed them off from big markets in places like Lagos, Kano and Ibadan where the Chinese nationals trading within the market.

“Chinese select basic areas in the country, but basically the exercise is beginning from three major areas of Kano, Lagos and Ibadan where their activities is worse. So we will fish them out and repatriate them.”

He lamented that their involvement in lowly rated activities which should be reserved for Nigerians have been depriving them of job opportunities.

“Out of the arrested Chinese nationals, eleven of them are women and it is an exercise aimed at making the economy of the country healthier. Only quality expatriates would be allowed into the country, not those who are economic scavengers. They will be deported to their country.”

Ifeadi stressed that, “the Chinese nationals seem to be mostly affected now, because they are selling textile in the market. But that of Kano is worrisome. So, the Controller General feels that enough is enough and it’s going to be a continuous exercise until when the economy is revived.

“All those foreign nationals trading in the market who are causing economic havoc in our country will be arrested and deported to their country.

“For Chinese to come to our country and be selling textiles in our market will not be allowed. And we will continue checking them; arresting them and deporting them to their country.”

His statement reminds me of the popular Chinese Market in Ojota, Lagos, where hundreds of Chinese nationals sell textiles, shoes, bags and other items in a shopping complex built by them. Will this exercise affect them also? Let’s also not forget that thousands of Nigerians are also doing the same thing – taking up menial jobs in other countries around the world.

What is your take on this effort to rid the country of foreigners taking on ‘menial’ jobs in Nigeria? Are the Chinese denying Nigerians of their jobs? Should the exercise be extended to other states in the country?

Please share your thoughts.

News Source: PM News

About Adeola Adeyemo

Adeola Adeyemo is a graduate of Industrial Relations and Personnel Management from University of Lagos. However, her passion is writing and she worked as a reporter with NEXT Newspaper. She believes that anything can be written about; anything can be a story depending on the angle it is seen from and the writer's imagination. When she is not writing news or feature articles, she slips into her fantasies and creates interesting fiction pieces. She blogs at www.deolascope.blogspot.com

Quite interesting….Nigerians feel the Chinese are taking their jobs. The British feel Nigerians are taking their jobs. So who is right and who is wrong???

If the Chinese are doing jobs Nigerians do not want to do or do not have the initiative to do, then you cannot blame them. Same goes for Nigerians in the UK who are more qualified and suitable for certain jobs than the natives themselves.

Pple complaining everywhere. Even Nigerians back home complain when those from abroad return home to work. Quit complaining pple!!! Get off your backsides and work! If someone is more qualified for the job, then he or she should get the job period!

i leave in jigawa state.it is very worrisome that they operate with arogance in kano…even lobbying customers 2 their shops at the expense of my country men.even lebanese are also guilty.custom should document why they come into nigeria before visa is granted and follow them up.it is a welcom development…deport them.they are economic canker worms.

All you loud mouth menial workers that come here to abuse Nigerians doing well in Nigeria,watch out because they will soon start packaging you people out of your respective hideouts in Europe and United States

you are stupid abeg if u go school learn the correct thing no dey open your leg focus on your exam shabbi u go dey fight with chinese for job. abeg pls go sit down shabi no be how world war 2 start the germans they blame the jews for taking their jobs wen trhey no one go school. abeg if u no get better thing talk make u no even open ur mouth

Chinese are hard working folks even though some of them are criminals. Lets call a spade a spade, if Nigerian could get the the tasks they are doing done efficiently, the Chinese would have never been able to come in the first place. They need to stop blaming Nigeria’s problem on others and fix the damn problem from within.

Kai, this is a bit one-sided. The Chinese did not take over these markets. They were practically invited by textile traders but they copy quite well and started to undercut those businesses in Isale Eko who bring expensive laces from Europe for example, and that became a huge problem.
On the flip side, the Nigerian Customs were driving them out of business as they steal their goods and treat them badly. Don’t know about criminal tendencies but those of you who have travelled to China on business would attest to their ‘can-do’ attitudes. I will never choose Nigerian staff over Chinese staff in certain industries. I can hire apprentices but we know what happens once they have their experience.

No need for the sub stories. If they are sure what they are doing is legal, get it over and done with. You should see how the Chinese throw illegal Nigerians out so no need for plenty talk. My concern is, the same Immigration services are encouraging it for a fast buck.

Nigerians shouldn’t be lazy. There’s literally no need for pointless complaints. If they want those jobs, then they should hustle like everybody else

On the other hand, if the Chinese operating these so-called “menial jobs” (reserved for the Nigerian people… really? that doesn’t make sense to me) are illegal immigrants or using holiday visas to start up businesses, then they should be sanctioned.

I totally agree that foreigners are taking away jobs from Nigerians and it’s not just menial jobs, even highly skilled jobs. In the Uk they give preference to their citizens during employment. Chinese economy is growing rapidly, in my class they are there wealthiest. Why should they also come and compete for the little jobs we have. Foreign invasion is another reason why Nigerians are competing too hard for jobs because this people come and take the little jobs that exist. We may be looking at it as a small issue but in a country where unemployment is a big issue, our government have to do something to protect its citizens.

They claim these jobs are specialized. What happened to training which most of these companies don’t want to spend money on. Didn’t there foreign man or woman get trained to do this jobs. I totally agree with the subject bcos i served in one of the top oil companies in Nigeria and almost all the white pple there are either Managers or have top positions. The annoying part is that when they first come, Nigerians take them into training and after that they put the man as your boss. My dear whether we realize it or not the foreigners are taking the good part of the economy from us be it oil and gas, Manufacturing etc. Nigerians occupy less than nothing abroad especially in the UK how many Nigerians are Managers abroad you can count them. Please don’t be ignorant. If they need specialism they can train Nigerians to do the job. finish!

lol, tot 9ja wants oyimbo na! when we see oyinbo we act like electric shock , awa la fi owo ara wa se ra wa! they have ruled us for too long now we are complaining, abeg let the chinese do their stuffs o! at least they are good in mass production and that is what the world loves. ride on chinko!!! i dont have any issues with them i love their special fried rice infact everything which one we do? we love complaining too much, is it only chinko? how about others….http://rock4less.blogspot.co.uk/

this is so witch hunt. Leave them do their job, more than anything they help the economy and the the people, because no is stopping those nigerians from doing such jobs. This is wrong, no nigerian would like it if the chinese booted him or her out of china just because they might be stealing jobs legally. Jealousy go kill peopleoooo

What is a Nigerian looking for all the way in Chine if he is being treated like a slave? Is it not better to suffer in your own country than abroad?? I don’t feel any pity for those who chose to “live abroad” by force. Na by force???? China of all places??? !!!****hisssss*****

I think its not all that a good idea to criticize the Chinese guys, let them work if its going to improve our economy. I also feel that any Chinese working in Nigeria doesn’t fit well in China or is not all that good but, lets welcome them please … They know that our money has no much value compared to their but they still cope…

Let’s be honest here the Nigerian artisans from the tailors, electricians and even the plumbers are just terrible. In Lagos you would prefer getting a Ghananian or Togolese do the job for you than a Nigerian. For the past four weeks I have been trying to get a certain electrician to fix an apliance in my house and all i get is promise promise and more promise. The other day I wanted to eat rice at an eatery run by some togolese. The reason I go there is beacause their rice is always cooked soft. Unfortunately they had close. I then decided to eat in another one run by a Nigerian and your guess is as good as mine, the rice was half cooked. The truth is we Nigerians are so greedy we cannot bear to do things right and correctly but we want to get rich. It is your work that would speak for and announce you.

am a firm believer that just like in any other country, jobs within the country should be given as a matter of priority to its citizens first, no job should be termed “specialized”, what sort of specialty job cannot be given to a Nigerian citizen in addition to training, its not the Chinese alone but other nationals as well, so i implore the immigration service to keep wielding their comb and ridding the country of foreign nationals loafing around…

I think the reason why they should be deported should be based on not having correct papers and not because of the menial jobs that they are doing. After all we have Nigerians in China also doing menial jobs around, and the Chinese govt is not saying a word. If these Chinese are deported based on the reason mentioned, their govt too will start deporting Nigerians as well. Don’t start what you can not finish!

@ Chijioke, really? Don’t be daft! Ehn, ok, so we can ask the British to remove DBanj from their charts following what you are saying. That way, Coldplay and other British bands can go up the charts even if they are singing trash and no one is downloading their tracks. Afterall, they are British. Right?

@Marvel: you really are the daft one and obviously quite hollow on political issues. Chijoke is talking sense and you are talking about D’banj!!! In all serious countries, if a job is to be given to a foreigner, there has to be sufficient justification that a citizen cannot do it. I was employed in the UK as an expat and I had to wait some months for my company to re-advertise the position and justify to the home office that a brit couldn’t do the job. When I read the thought process of you and your generation (largely represented in most of the comments above) I fear that the harm done by our awful educational system is irreversible and this country is truly sunk.

For me I would say that the government can allow the chinese in our society but with the right motive, to employ and to train the citizen and not just bringing their fellow chinese men for them to hold all top managerial level while the nigerians are left to just be their subordinate. Their papers have to be legal and our government should from time to time review their policy to protect the interest of the nigerian citizen.
It is because overtime government didnt take the right step to monitor the chinese pple and their activities , ofcourse they took law into their hands, now they have become unbearable they want to deport them. If they deport them, they should be ready to see loads of nigerians that would be sent back from other countries that would eventually become a menace in the society.

I don’t know why this debate is here quite frankly and hope we are not joining the league of xenophobic countries. I see absolutely nothing wrong with “people with the right to live and work”, in any country, doing “any” type of work, except restricted to a particular cadre.

Lets be more circumspect about the comments we make. If they are here illegally, then by all means (just like any other national) deport them, because it is an offense. If they are here legally and working illegally (because not permitted to), thats another offense. Other than that, please let them be. It should not be a crime to live and work in another country.

Nigerians and bad belle! We always have a reason to complain. I’ve got a question for those of you complaining about foreigners being given preferential treatment. How about your fellow Nigerian being turned down for a job solely because the pay that came with the position was too high to be paid to a Nigerian?! Why is that you may ask? Well the reason was that, in the international oil and gas company certain roles were being kept for Foreigners and not Nigerians, or else fellow Nigerians would complain that the salary being paid was way too high. How dumb and sad is that??? If I had not heard if live from the person myself, I would have doubted the story! Basically, Nigerians would only accept such salary being paid if the person was a foreigner. But was that not the usual salary that comes with the job???????????

Secondly, how about the Nigerians who return home from abroad??? Even those are considered to be stealing jobs, supposedly meant for those who remained in Nigeria and could not afford to get foreign qualifications and experience! In Theory, is it not the person who is most qualified that is meant to get the job? Correct me if I’m wrong here, but aren’t we supposed to be supporting each other so that these positions won’t be taken up by foreigners? Even returning to Nigeria as a expat sef is a problem! Let’s not even go there!!!!

I’m all for considering Nigerians for roles first before foreigners, but let’s not fool ourselves by thinking that it is all the foreigner’s doing. We Nigerians are the ones ruining opportunities for own ourselves thereby giving out these opportunities to foreigners.

The problem with with most Nigerians is that as a people, we worship anyone foreign who is not black. It has always been that way even back in the mid 80s to mid 90s when I lived in Nigeria. This is why I respect ghanians alot. I read an article not too long ago where the ghanian government will chase out illegal immigrants from their country come June 30th and many of the said illegal immigrants consist of chinese people. The article mentioned that the chinese are engaged in illegal mining in certain parts of ghana and that the ghanians have decided to deal with these chinese people who are engaging in theft of their resources and destroying their land. In addition, ghana has in place a rule whereby only those who are citizens of ghana are allowed to engage in retail and petty trade. This is to prevent foreigners from coming in and taking over retail jobs from market sellers like the chinese are currently doing in Nigeria. Now that is what I call a country who cares about her citizens and puts them first unlike our dear Nigeria.

Look at most people who commented see nothing wrong that Chinese have infiltrated our markets and are therefore taking customers away from the locals who are very hard working. As Nigerians, we hate each other so much that we see nothing wrong in what asians, middle easterners and whites do to our people on our own turf and soil. We pick sides with foreigners over our own compatriots and to their detriment.

I have been fortunate to live in different countries and parts of the world. Nowhere have I seen citizens of a country take sides with foreigners living in their land over their own fellow compatriots. Nowhere! only in Nigeria have I witnessed that time and time again. Nowhere in this world have I been treated better than the locals of the said country I am in. Very soon, chinese female immigrants will start mamaput business and chase your mothers and grandmothers outta business. Very soon, chinese will take over okada business, take over selling tomoatoes and peppers and even start teaching in our schools and I can bet that gullible inferiority complex stricken Nigerians will see nothing wrong with that. We are living in difficult times where countries around the world are tighthening their borders and protecting their resources and the interests of their citizens. However, what are Nigerians doing? allowing every chinese, lebanese and what have you to come in and do whatever they please while robbing us of our resources and the opportunity to make money through small business ventures. And as usual, the average Nigerian sees nothing wrong with it. Its such a curse being a Nigerian because it is obvious that we don’t love ourselves and don’t mean well for each other.

I think this is wrong. Nobody takes a job which is not there in the first place. If the Chinese have identified an economic need and are fulfilling it, lazy Nigerians who want those same opportunities handed to them on a silver platter should not complain. Don’t Nigerians also go and do menial jobs in countries which have poor nationals looking for those jobs? I would be in support of this move if the Chinese were criminals or illegals, but to deport a hardworking expatriate just because their job is ‘menial’ or ‘unskilled’ sounds very wrong to me!

Do you realize they way Chinese people treat Nigerians in China???? And for them to have the audacity to be in Nigeria and treat Nigerian citizens like slaves in their own country, is freaking outrageous!!!!! Please let the government nip this situation in the bud, because China does not give a damn about nobdoy but themselves, or should i say thier pockets. Anywhere they go they look for ways to exploit the markets with their sub-standard goods. Abeg o! Naija shine your eyes!

I have been to china, and you cannot imagine the amount of Nigerians living and working in china, as with every other nook and cranny of the globe.Nigerians are similar to the chinese in that, they’re both hustler, their countries are over populated and its a case of the survival of the fittest so they go looking for opportunities around the world, they’re both creative but nigerians show their creativity mostly through negative means. No smart country wages an immigration war against china, even the veto powers know that, so nigerian government and its citzens should stop chasing shadows they should face the real figure. If u’re chewing, someone can’t take food from your mouth, period!

Pls Let all this rubbish stop! So Nigeria we now have mouth!!. After Nigerians have invaded other pple countries, they still hv the gut to talk. Pple the Nigerians intigating this should hv a taste of their own medicine and Leave the Chinese alone.
You shld be happy foreigner evn what to live in this insecure, unsafe, disorganised place called Nigeria!! **digusted!

There is something not right about this article. If Nigerians cant do it then let them. You all should be worried about the pple from Niger and mali, who ride bikes like mad people and are probably involved in this whole boko haram crap.

Im sure they refused the bribe the head of custom hence their arrest. By the time the chinese govt is done with you all ehn una go know

Adele, you need sedatives mate. You got your job in the UK cos you are special blah, blah, blah. My brother got a 2 year stint, with a marketing masters in a top bank too and is now in Hong Kong. How special is that? You are a dunce! You served as cheap labour to the banks and hopefully you picked up some experience in the process.
If you read my earlier post (Bob Geldof oshi) I mentioned that the Nigerian Immigration turn the other way for cash. Your company followed due process. I should pratice nepotism abi? Best person with the best attitude for the job. You can continue with the group hug as it wont change a thing.

Marvel, if you want to be rude, and call someone a dunce, it shows you don’t have any class at all. Abeg, you miss road on your way to Linda Ikeji’s blog, because BN is for polished sophisticated people, who can make a point without resorting to crass name calling. You mentioned that Adele served as cheap layout to the banks. Erm, hello o, your brother too, with his 2year stint in Hong Kong ALSO with a bank, is also what, jare. I’m sorry, a 2year stint in Hong Kong, aint so special. Any organisation which is global, always has opportunities all over the world. With the 2year stint, and masters, I am guessing it is one of the graduate schemes with investment banks, so please don’t come boasting here, like he is Queen Elizabeth’s personal financial advisor. Like i said before BN is for people, who have a lot of exposure, and have seen the world, so you can’t use that one to impress us. You go think say your brother na head of New York Stock Exchange. Mschew. Hong Kong lasan lasan

why do Nigerian employers give people difficult exams to take? haven’t they heard of training. The simple truth is, the Chinese will rather train their own people than train a Nigerian. Nigerians would rather give difficult exams and keep people out of the pipeline its stupid.

This title is very misleading and bogus. Nobody is taking Nigerian’s job. I like how the Chinese work, I believe they are smart businesspeople, not the most friendly people but they are hard working. I prefer them to whites in Africa. They have been there for year, did nothing but cause more problems. Instead of the Nigerian government to take responsibility of their failure, they are pushing the blame. Nigeria, wake up and fix that messed up country.

I want the Immigration to start fishing out all immigrant.Nigerians are not allowed to work in any Asian country.The worst is Malaysia.It is on the Philippines that is friendly.The rest are racist and have hatred in their blood.They prefer fellow Asians like the Bangladish,Pakistan ETC.I want the Nigerian government to look into this.Many Nigerians oversea are into online scam,drugs and not real job.

The Nigerian police and the immigration should be doing crackdown on illegal chinese living and working in Nigeria.
Also the Nigerian customs should open their eyes to the goods imported in ths country by the chinese..And i cant see why the Nigerian customs should allow the chinese to bring some products that are contrabands to our country.

For example..go to china town and lagos island where thousands of containers of chinese made shoes bags even our African abada are being imported to our country by the chinese…And our customs still said they are contraband goods..why the nigerian govt. kept blind eyes to the Chinese importers…This i cant understand…can somebody tell me what’s goin on..